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Eriol Hiiragizawa
Eriol Hiiragizawa (柊沢 エリオル, Hiiragizawa Erioru) is a fictional character in Clamp's anime and manga series Cardcaptor Sakura. He is known as Eli Moon in the English adaptation Cardcaptors. Voiced by Bill Switzer (series), Johnny Yong Bosch (2nd movie) and Sasaki Nozomu (in Japanese). Physical Appearance Eriol has blue-black hair and kind off large, squared-off glasses that don't conceal his gray eyes. When using his immensely powerful magical powers, he wears blue robes and a large black hat, both sporting unique yellow decoration. Personality Despite his appearance, Eriol is not actually twelve as he halted his aging process to get close to Sakura. His actual age is unknown, except that he's around the age of Sakura's father. Eriol's life experience, coupled with his access to Clow Reed's memories, means that he is significantly more knowledgeable and mature than his classmates. He is quite skilled in basketball, cooking, academics, piano and art. He is more fluent in japanese writing than Li. Eriol normally appears to be a serious person. However, he actually has a mischievous personality, and has to restrain himself from making wisecracks when Sakura and Li are "so slow", as he tells Sakura in Episode 55 (as the Cheshire Cat). Also to hide the fact of who he is from Kero and Yue. Eriol enjoys himself when using his magic to put Sakura in various situations, such as when he puts her in a pit filled with sheep. Storyline Sakura Cards Arc Eriol transfers to Tomoeda Elementary from England soon after Sakura Kinomoto convinces Yue in the "Final Judgment" and becomes Master of the Clow Cards. He quickly befriends Sakura, a feat which persuades Syaoran Li, who became both jealous and suspicious of Eriol, to postpone his return to Hong Kong, as it appeared as Eriol had bigger intentions towards Sakura. However Tomoyo says that Eriol sees Sakura as someone dear to him and does not see her in a romantic way. Eriol also befriends Takashi Yamazaki and becomes his partner-in-crime when it comes to telling lies; he and Takashi respond to each other's cues perfectly and can together enforce the false validity of their story by both appearing to have detailed knowledge of the subject, thwarting Chiharu's usual dispelling of the whole lie. At the same time, a series of magical disasters force Sakura to gradually convert the Clow Cards into "Sakura Cards" or "Star Cards", which draw from her own magical energy rather than the dwindling amount of magic left in them by Clow, although this had a drawback. At first when Sakura transformed just one Clow Card into a Sakura Card, it was too much for her and afterwards she would fall asleep from exhaustion. What Sakura does not know (until the series' end) is that Eriol himself creates these situations. During each situation, he is seen from afar observing the action, often accompanied by his guardians, Spinel Sun and Ruby Moon. All three of them live in a house that was formerly occupied by Clow Reed himself. Eventually Eriol confronts Sakura and reveals himself to be the reincarnation of Clow Reed, creator of the Cards which leaves Sakura, Tomoyo, Kero and Syaoran stunned at the revelation. He challenges Sakura to defeat him by converting the final Cards, The Light and The Dark, which would prevent Tomoeda from being permanently plunged into darkness. The sheer force causes Tomoyo to fall asleep while Syaroan barely manages to hold on with Sakura being the only one unaffected by the change. With his guardians occupying the attention of Sakura's own guardians, Yue and Cerberus, Eriol uses his magic to hamper Sakura. Eventually she manages to convert Light and Dark with the help of Cerberus and Yue, who together fused with Sakura's wand to make it more powerful, and Syaoran, who provided moral support and the confidence to carry on, even though his attempt to aid her with his magic resulted in him passing out which happened in the manga. In the anime, Syaoran survives long enough to help Sakura change the Light and Dark Cards, breaking Eriol's spell once and for all. :In the manga, after Sakura overcomes this final challenge, Eriol puts Sakura through one more task; he asks her to divide his power in half between himself and her father, Fujitaka Kinomoto, who is the other reincarnation of Clow Reed. This at last give Eriol the one thing he has wanted his entire life: to no longer be the most powerful sorcerer in the world. This wish was probably due to the consequences of Clow Reed's desire for Yuko to stay alive, which led to the events of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle. No longer able to keep people away from the battle site using magic, Eriol invites everyone to his home where he explains his actions; stating that the challenges were to give Sakura a reason to have to change the cards into Sakura Cards, which made it easier and safer for her to transform them then it would have been without a good reason. At Eriol's house, it is revealed that he was working in conjunction with Kaho Mizuki, who he met during her travels in Europe. When Sakura, Syaoran, Tomoyo, and Cerberus go off to help Ruby Moon and Spinel in the kitchen, Eriol steps outside to join Yue, who was still upset that Clow had forced him through the all the pain of having to choose another master when Clow himself had been alive all along. Eriol clarifies that he is not Clow Reed, but just has his memories, and that Clow will never return. Eriol then continues to explain Clow's reasoning and helps Yue come to terms with Clow's death and his decision to reincarnate himself. With his task complete, Eriol makes the decision to return to England with Kaho, Spinel and Ruby Moon. Powers and Abilities Magic As Eriol retains the memories and powers of Clow Reed, he is a remarkably formidable sorcerer, being able to effortlessly employ high-ranking magic even without the aid of the Cards. He also displays the ability to animate various objects through the use of magic, as shown when he was testing Sakura to see if she was worthy to be the next master of the cards. Examples of this are when he brought a teddy bear to life, causing it to grow and gain immense strength in the process, also when he used his power to enable some children's rides in a play area to move around albeit in a random sequence of jumping motions. In his duel with Sakura, he demonstrated the power to unleash potent bursts of scarlet energy from his staff, and to amplify the powers of others so that they could overcome their opponents easily. Eriol also demonstrates an ability to see spirits, in a similar manner to Toya Kinomoto, as he was able to see the spirit of Nadeshiko Kinomoto at Tomoeda Elementary. Like Clow, Eriol's powers are drawn from both light and darkness. Cardcaptors His relationship with Kaho Mizuki is removed. Staff English Incantation I call upon the power of the day and the night. Sun and Darkness unleash your might. Release! Japanese The key that hides the power of darkness. Reveal your true form to me! I, Eriol, command you under our contract. Release! Trivia * Contrary to popular belief, Eriol has never refered to Syaoran as his "darling relative" or "my cute little descendant" (Edit note: Chapter 33 of the manga it is mentioned when Eriol becomes the target of Syaoran's tracking magic. It's a manga-only reference as it did not happen in the anime.) * In Clamp's Angelic Layer, there is a school called "Eriol Academy". However, Clamp is known to make intertextual references within their series. There is no evidence to suggest any link between the character and the school. * In the manga, Eriol's powers are ineffective against Fujitaka Kinomoto, Sakura's father. This is because when Clow Reed split into two spirits, one was Eriol who had the memories of his past life as Clow while the second was Fujitaka who unknowingly gave Sakura her magical powers. In the anime, though, this entire revelation is scrapped and no reference is ever made as during the anime, Fujitaka was affected was Eriol's sleep spell. * In the manga, when he's asked why he created Spinel and Ruby, Eriol replies that he knew that Yue and Cerberus would attack him at Tokyo Tower, simply to protect Sakura from harm. He also states that if he hadn't created Spinel or Ruby, then his two former creations would have been searching for the Clow within him although Eriol also says that he's fond of them in their way. * In the anime and manga series: Chobits, there is a Character who resembles Eriol greatly, he is named: Minoru Kokubunji. Gallery Eriolcat.jpeg Eli07.jpeg Erioll04.jpeg References Category:Cardcaptor Sakura characters